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“All displaced Brus
are thirsty for normal life. We are also citizens of
India
, indigenous and sons of the soil”.
The
Reang or Bru refugees have resorted to a sit in demonstration at
footstep of statue of Mahatma Gandhi near Governor’s House in
Agartala to press the government of
India
to facilitate  their
immediate repatriation to Mizoram state. The leaders said the
stir would continue for a week and resume an indefinite hunger
strike from March 2 if their 16 point charter of demands is not
conceded.
Elvis
Chorkhy, President of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum
(MBDPF) Chorkhy has said they are on agitation to press 16 point
charter crux of which was their repatriation to Mizoram. “The
squatting stir would continue for a week and if the demands are
still not conceded we would go for an indefinite hunger strike
at same venue”, he said.
Chorkhy
has in a letter faxed to union home minister Shivaraj Patil set
an ultimatum to accept their demands by March 1 failing of which
they would commence an indefinite hunger strike agitation at
same venue. “All displaced Brus are thirsty for normal life.
We are also citizens of
India
, indigenous and sons of the soil”, he mentioned in the
letter.
MBDPF has been apex body of some 33,000 refugees stranded in six
makeshift camps in Kanchanpur, north Tripura, since they left
Mizoram in October 1997 to escape alleged ethnic perpetration by
majority Mizos.
The demands also include improvement in health, education and
civic amenities in the camps where deaths and diseases are
common phenomenon. Refugee leaders were extremely annoyed as
over three months have passed since surrender of 1040 militants
belonging to the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) and Bru
Liberation front of Mizoram (BLFM) has failed to impress the
Mizoram Government to expedite the process of repatriation of
the evacuees.
The refugee condition was fallout of violent clashes erupted
between Reangs and Mizos when the former demanded reservation of
three seats in Mizoram Assembly, reservation for Brus in
Government jobs and an autonomous Council like the Chakma tribe
availed.
Photo courtesy:
www.nepics.com
23 February 2007
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